Sport

Boston church's sexual abuse

Updated
February 23, 2013 00:01:00

The lid was lifted on sexual abuse within America's Catholic Church in Boston 2002. The city's leading Catholics say much has changed since then and they insist the church now has a policy of zero tolerance, but there are concerns many of those involved in the original cover-up haven't been removed from power.

EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: Los Angeles isn't the only major American city dealing with sexual abuse scandals, the lid was lifted on abuse within the Boston church back in 2002.

The city's leading Catholics say much has changed since then and they insist the church now has a policy of zero tolerance but there are concerns many of those involved in the original cover up haven't been removed from power.

A decade on, North America correspondent Jane Cowan visited Boston to see whether the church has changed for the better.

(SOUND OF CHURCH MUSIC)

JANE COWAN, REPORTER: It's been called the most Catholic place in America. But on a regular Sunday in Boston, there are fewer people in the pews than there once were, the ranks of the faithful thinned by a clergy sex abuse scandal that's shaken the church to its foundations.

Mike Emerton used to be a churchgoer but these days his Sunday ritual is more likely to involve beer and football. The son of a former Carmelite nun, he grew up as Catholic as can be. But when Mike was 15-years-old, on an overnight trip with a priest he was plied with alcohol and his trust broken irreparably.

MIKE EMERTON: The thing that I remember the most was him standing at the end of the bed and he is looking right at me and he says, "Mike, you remember anything from last night?" and I'm looking at him, my head is swimming and I said, "no, I remember playing the board game and blacking out. He looks at me and goes, had a big smile on his face, "good."

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REPORTER: A Roman Catholic priest has been arrested at his home.

JANE COWAN: Mike Emerton never brought a case against the priest but father Paquin went to jail for abusing other children in similar circumstances.

REPORTER 2: Paquin took four boys including Jimmy Frances..

JANE COWAN: One boy - Mike's friend, died in a car rollover on the way back from one excursion, although father Paquin denied having abused him. The Priest presided over the boys funeral.

MIKE EMERTON: I remember him up on the altar like he's the exalted one. Over Jimmy's coffin and I know he molested him so, I'm done. I'm done with the whole church experience.

PROTESTER: The citizens here have been victimised. They've been molested and they've been raped.

JANE COWAN: Ten years ago Boston found itself at the epicentre of a child sex abuse crisis.

PROTESTER 2: Did you rape and molest little boys when you were a priest in Boston?

JANE COWAN: An initial wave of revelation centred around one Catholic priest ballooned to thousands of claims from victims and accusations against 150 priests, eventually prompting the departure of Boston's cardinal.

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BERNARD LAW, CARDINAL, FMR ARCHBISHOP OF BOSTON: I apologise once again to all the those who have been sexually abused as minors by priests.

JANE COWAN: Similar stories erupted in parishes all over the country.

ANNE BARRETT DOYLE, ACTIVIST FOR BISHOP ACCOUNTABILITY: Just in the United States what the Church now admits to is about 6,000 priests and maybe 15,000 victims.

JANE COWAN: The Church though says it's changed and now has a policy of zero tolerance. The Boston archdioceses has pumped millions into counselling and outreach for survivors as well as education to prevent sexual abuse. It points to better reporting of accused priests and background checks.

TERRY DONILON, BOSTON ARCHDIOCESE: We believe that there's no safer organisation now in the commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Catholic Church largely because of the lessons that we learnt.

JANE COWAN: Nationally the church has tried to remake its image with an advertising campaign targeting lapsed Catholics.

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TERRY DONILON: This is going to be a long steady slog for the church in Boston to restore itself and again, there's nothing wrong with that, because at the end of the day there were people legitimately harmed and we owe it to them to get this right.

JANE COWAN: Boston Globe journalist Michael Rezendes won a Pulitzer prize for his reporting of clergy sex abuse. He applauds the changes the church has put in place but says the response falls short in one important way.

MICHAEL REZENDES, BOSTON GLOBE: I think the church has done very, very little to hold the supervisors in the church who are responsible for this accountable.

JANE COWAN: And reporters like Michael Rezendes continue to unearth new instances of abuse and cover up.

MICHAEL REZENDES: Only last year, I investigated an individual, Father Brad Schaeffer, who at one time was the highest ranking Jesuit in America, I revealed that he'd played a significant role in covering up for one of the most abusive Catholic priest to ever wear the collar and church officials knew that he played this role and did nothing about it until I came along and wrote my stories.

JANE COWAN: At the height of the US scandal, American bishops brought in a sweeping package of policies for dealing with sexual abuse but those who have documented the unfolding crisis say a problematic culture amongst bishops persists.

ANNE BARRETT DOYLE: The archdiocese of Philadelphia in 2010 had 37 accused priest in ministry that year. So the way the bishops are defining a credible allegation enables them to keep priests that you and I wouldn't want near our kids but the church is saying it's still okay for them to be there. They are continuing to really put the rights of accused priests before child safety.

JANE COWAN: Their assertions the US Conference of Catholic Bishops refused to respond to, letting the questions fall to the Boston archdiocese.

TERRY DONILON: The bishops are much more serious and they are serious about this now. I mean no-one in their right mind can sit back and allow a child to be hurt.

JANE COWAN: Even today a small band of protesters still keeps a vigil at Boston's cathedral.

PROTESTER: I don't want my fellow Catholics to think that things are okay.

PROTESTER 2: The bishops that the pope is appointing these days are cut from the same bolt of cloth as the ones they made 25-years-ago. So I see no change coming from the top down. Change is going to come from the bottom up.

JANE COWAN: While Australia might look to the American experience for guidance there's also some sense here in Boston of the United States looking to Australia in hopes a successful royal commission could spur changes that make the Catholic Church a safer place for children worldwide and perhaps provide the leadership that critics say has been lacking so far.

ANNE BARRETT DOYLE: All eyes are on Australia, I mean we're really watching where this investigation goes, we hope that your Prime Minister doesn't lose her nerve.

JANE COWAN: But whatever happens, for survivors like Mike Emerton, the Catholic Church has been ruined, possibly forever.

MIKE EMERTON: I've got two sons, nine and seven. Do I feel safe right now putting them in the Catholic Church? The answer is no.

JANE COWAN: Others are keeping the faith but with new revelations still hitting the headlines, for how long?